Response Paper on Four Important American Documents - Essay Example

?Michael R. H. Swanson CORE 102.24 2 October Response Paper on Four Important American Documents American history is seen to be full of a large number of various historical documents that have been shared by its presidents and other Americans over several generations. These documents have been used by the Americans that presented them to aid in not only informing the nation of the administration’s current polices and approaches towards the relevant topics of the day but also in encouraging the nation and promising it a rather bright future ahead in contrast to whatever calamities that might happen to befall the nation at the present moment. It is worth noting that some of the earlier documents of this kind can be seen to greatly influence later documents and the ideas presented within them. President Roosevelt presented this paper in Congress in 1941. Some of the key ideas sene to be laid out in this paper have been widely adopted and voiced by subsequent administrations and other Americans over time. In this paper, President Roosevelt is seen to emphasize the fact that prior to the year 1941, the United States had been greatly affected by occurrences in other continents. These had seen the country involved in about two wars as well as a number of undeclared wars in the United States’ attempt to secure the basic principles of peaceful commerce and civil rights. He urged for democracy which he claimed was greatly assailed across the world. In his speech Roosevelt points out that there are some fundamental things that Americans happen to expect from their government pertaining to their economic and political systems. He summarizes these things as being security for anyone that may happen to require it, jobs offered to those who are in a capacity to work, the general preservation of all civil liberties for each and every individual, and the ending of granting of a number of special privileges to only a select few. These civil liberties, as presented by Roosevelt in 1941, were later seen to be adopted by the UN in the UDHR that it presented in 1948 as the freedom from fear and want and the freedom from of speech and religion (Roosevelt 6). The UDHR presents a number of human rights that contain compressed versions of civil liberties as declared by Roosevelt. Some of them include Article 1 that emphasizes the fact that all human beings are born equal and should therefore have both equal dignity and rights. Article 23 of the UDHR is also seen to borrow its idea from Roosevelt as it stresses the innate right of all individuals to be able to work and have a basically free choice of employment. Securing the freedom for individuals to essentially be in a capacity to hold a job is seen to serve to save the individual from lacking some of the wants such as food, essential medical care and housing. (UN General Assembly 2–5). Similarly, in declaring the right for everyone to obtain security, liberty and life, Article 3 of the UDHR highlights the right of all people to obtain personal security, the government should be in a capacity to provide adequate security for its citizen’s according to the expected requirements of this Article which are in turn seen to be in-line with the freedom from fear (UN General Assembly 2). In his article, Kaplan is seen to point out that the United States’ concerted efforts to promote democracy in the poorer different parts of the world are critical. In a similar fashion to Roosevelt, Kaplan stresses that the current democracy in the United States is essentially at a greater risk than ever before (Kaplan 1). Kaplan ends his article by painting a substantially gloomy picture of the potentially bleak future that stands to affect America and the various achievements that have been made possible across the world primarily as a result of the advent and continual spread of democracy. He contends that the West could arguably be seen to stand to eventually fall to the same fate as most of the earlier civilizations across the world, such as the Roman Empire that strongly believed that it was giving the final expression to the great republican ideal of the Greeks, and the various medieval kings that held that they were conveying to the great Roman Ideal. America and its democratic principles are based on the same beliefs followed by the early Christians that were convinced that they were engaged in bringing both a better life and freedom to the rest of the entire humankind (Kaplan 18). The United States is currently seen to be in critical danger as a result of the general failure of its economic system that have resulted in a larger number of individuals being in want as compared to past years. A number of similarities can be drawn between the United States and some of the failed foreign democracies that were designed on economic systems that eventually failed to adequately sustain the existing political ideals as is the case in the United States today. President Obama opens his second inaugural speech by emphasizing that all presidents tend to promise the entire country to secure democracy. His emphasis on democracy can essentially be seen to be quite similar to Roosevelt’s and Kaplan’s (Obama 1). In his speech, Obama strongly reiterates the proclamation that had originally been made by Roosevelt in 1941, expressing the determination of the United States to ensure that it constantly promotes and supports the basic tenets of democracy across the world from the Middle East to Americas and from Africa to Asia. Obama claims that this desire stems from America’s conscience that greatly compels it to make sure that it acts on behalf of all those who might happen to currently be longing for freedom and not merely for charitable actions (Obama 3). Obama points out that for the country to successfully be able to secure peace, it must satisfy the requirement that it constantly advances the principles described in its common creed advocating and advancing justice, opportunity, tolerance, and human dignity. This is witnessed to be aligned with the civil liberties described by President Roosevelt as being among the inherent rights and some of the human rights defined by the UN in its UDHR. One of the key articles describes the basic requirement that all persons have a right to justice. Another one that Obama alludes to is the common creed bearing a number of similarities with various UN Human Rights Articles and referring to the advocacy of opportunity and human dignity (Obama 3). Although these documents are presented by different individuals in different time periods across history, I believe that the relationship between them can arguably be seen to aid in further affirming the postulation that events in history ultimately affect some of the future events. It is important for the United States to ensure that it is careful to learn from past history as presented in this document so as to be able to chart out an effective course that will eventually secure the survival of the country and its democratic principles as envisioned by its past presidents and a number of other Americans. Works Cited Kaplan, Robert. “Was Democracy Just a Moment?” 1997. Sept 30, 2013. Web. Obama, Barrack. “Second Inaugural Address.” 2013. Sept 30, 2013. Web. Roosevelt, Franklin. “State of the Union Address.” 1941. Sept 30, 2013. Web. UN General Assembly. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 1948. Sept 30, 2013. Web. Read More